‘Pray for Ukraine’: Over 150 protesters gather in Kansas City to show support for Ukraine

Halyna Fedosyuk spent her 58th birthday Friday worrying about her sister, brother-in-law and young niece who live in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.

They reside on the fourth floor of a nine-story building and every few hours, sirens echo through the air.

In those moments, they head to a section of the building away from windows. They huddle together, holding their family dog tightly, and hope a missile doesn’t strike their home.

“It’s now reality for them and nobody can imagine in 2022 there would be a full-force invasion with the ballistic missiles, with the airstrikes, with the troops on the ground,” Fedosyuk said.

She was among more than 150 people who gathered Saturday in front of the fountain at Mill Creek Park at The Plaza in what was the latest show of support for Ukraine in Kansas City. For the past couple nights, several building across the city have been illuminated in blue and yellow — the colors of Ukraine’s flag.

Demonstrations in solidarity with the Eastern European country — which was invaded by Russian forces Wednesday night — have been held in several cities across the country and the world.

“I see folks from all sorts of different backgrounds here,” said Vitaly Chernetsky, a professor at the University of Kansas whose father lives in Odessa. “This really makes us feel supported and not alone.”

Cars honked in support. Dozens of Ukrainans flags flapped in the wind. Protesters had the flag’s colors painted on their cheeks and arms and even their beards and eyelids.

Demonstrators held signs that said “Pray for Ukraine” and “Stop the war.” They chanted “No war in Ukraine, no war in Ukraine.”

Worrying for family

Oksana Husieva and Andriy Husiev, a husband and wife from Lviv, learned of Russia’s attack Wednesday night when Husieva heard Russian President Vladamir Putin had declared the start of a “special military operation.”

Soon after, Russian forces attacked from different directions, assaulting by air, land and sea. The couple frantically tried calling their family members, who live in Lviv.

Both are graduate students at the University of Kansas. But it’s been difficult to study or eat the past few days.

“We make ourselves eat and follow the news until we’re exhausted,” said Husieva, 30. “We wake up at 3 a.m. at night to check the messages that we’ve received from our family and friends.”

Husiev’s mother and Husieva’s sister both live in Lviv. For the past few months, it was unclear if Putin would launch an attack or not. When the incursion began last week, Putin said he wanted to “denazify” the country, a claim that Husieva called “Russian propaganda,” especially because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and lost family members in the Holocaust.

“For us, it’s nonsense. It’s not true,” Husieva said.

Husieva said her sister and mother-in-law have been trying to flee the country and cross into Poland. Lviv is about 43 miles from the border. However, they are not the only ones. At least 150,000 people are trying to escape, the Associated Press reported.

Her sister and mother-in-law tried driving, but the line of cars was so long they walked 16 miles to the border, dragging their suitcases with them. They are stuck at the border, Husieva said.

For now, Husieva said she would like to see harsher sanctions against Russia, including cutting off Russian financial institutions from SWIFT, a messaging network that connects banks around the world. Later Saturday, the Associated Press reported that several countries, including the U.S., committed to removing Russian banks from SWIFT.

“But not just stop there, just kind of further isolate Russia from the world, from culture, from all possible spheres,” Husieva said. “And obviously, humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine.”